


Stolen Wine

by thekeekster



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 17:32:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6088357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekeekster/pseuds/thekeekster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Happens shortly after arriving at Skyhold. Cullen skips dinner to work and Nora shows up in his office with food and wine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stolen Wine

Cullen sat at his desk writing a letter, his brow furrowed in concentration.

This was the ninth letter he had written since lunch, and he still had a dozen left. Since the Inquisition had arrived at Skyhold and named Nora the Inquisitor, there had been no shortage of work; especially for Cullen. Countless men and women had pledged themselves to the Inquisition and its cause and Cullen made sure he met all of them personally before they began their training.  He was pleased that their numbers were growing so quickly, but it made for long days.

His mornings began before the sun was up and often didn’t end until the stars were in the sky. Between training the new recruits, organizing training exercises and reading reports from the Inquisition’s excursions, he barely had time to think. He usually had a headache by the end of the day, and today was no exception. In fact, today’s headache had started shortly after his morning briefing and had only gotten worse as the day went on. When they were this bad they affected his ability to concentrate and in turn he hadn’t gotten nearly as much done as he usually did, much to his irritation.

_This is proving to be a terrible day_.

He dropped his quill and winced as his temples throbbed, the migraine showing no signs of weakening _.  I’m never going to get anything done if this doesn’t let up_. He squinted up from the papers on his desk to the ladder in his office, pondering.

_Maybe a quick rest, just long enough to get rid of this headache,_ he thought. _Then I can finish these letters and get started on the reports_.

Cullen stood up from his chair and had walked across his office, looking forward t collapsing on his bed for an hour or so. He reached the ladder and placing his hands on the rungs he started to pull himself up, but stopped short when he heard a knock at his door.

He had made it explicitly clear that he was not to be disturbed this afternoon, and this was the third time today that someone had interrupted him. He closed his eyes and sighed, cursing under his breath and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Come in.” He beckoned, voice dripping with irritation.

He heard the door to his office open and the soft footsteps of someone entering.

“This had better be important!” He snapped, opening his eyes and looking towards the doorway. “I already said twice that I-”

His eyes widened when he realized it was Nora who had knocked on his door, and she was now standing in his office, a tavern tray in her hand.

“Inquisitor! Forgive my tone; I thought you were someone else.”

Nora smiled, waving off his apology and walked over to his desk, setting down the tray on top of it before turning towards him, leaning back against his desk.

“It’s fine, Cullen.” She offered him a concerned smile. “I’m sorry to intrude and I know how busy you are… but I noticed you weren’t at dinner again. I thought you may be hungry.” She nodded towards the tray she placed on his desk, which he now noticed contained two bowls and two tankards.

“Dinner?” Confused, he looked over at the window of his office and realized that the moon was already high in the night sky. _It’s already dark? Maker when did that happen?_

Cullen let go of the rung on the ladder and rubbed the back of his neck and looked back at the Inquisitor.

“I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late, I guess I must have lost track of the time…” He glanced over at his desk, eyeing up the pile of reports he had yet to look over.

Nora’s brow furrowed and a look of concern washed over her face as she spoke.

“Cullen, you work too hard. You need to relax every now and then. And you need to eat! This is the third time this week that you haven’t been down to the Tavern for supper.”  She crossed her arms across her chest and nodded once again towards the two steaming bowls on his desk. “Sit. Eat.”.

He raised his hand in protest as he spoke, “I’m really not that hungry, I just got caught up with work and-“

A loud growl from his stomach cut him off, and he heard the Inquisitor laugh across his office.

She looked at him with a smirk and cocked an eyebrow at him when she spoke; “Not that hungry? I’m finding that hard to believe. Come, sit.”

Cullen smiled, and strolled towards his desk. “If you insist.” He looked at the two bowls of stew and cocked an eyebrow at Nora as he sat down in his desk chair.

“Why are there two bowls?”

“Oh the second bowl is for me. I thought maybe we could eat together.”  She smiled as she brought a second chair over and placed it at the front of his desk, across from where he was seated. She spun the chair around so that the back was against the front of his desk, and then straddled it, facing him.

Cullen’s cheeks reddened, and he brought a hand to the back of his neck and started nervously massaging. She wanted to eat with him? Why?

“Oh. Why didn’t you eat in the Tavern?”

Nora’s face flushed when she looked back at him and replied.

“Well I just wanted… It was silly of me. I’ll take mine and go.” She turned her face away and started to get up.

Cullen quickly stood up and reached for her over the desk, his hand grasping hers and causing her to spin back around.

“No! I mean- stay, please. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful or that I don’t appreciate your company.” _Maker, stop babbling_ \- “I’m glad you came. I appreciate you thinking of me, I was just… Surprised is all.” Cullen smiled at her and she sat back down, smiling back at him and picking up her bowl of stew.

“I know you’re a busy man, and that you still have lots of work to do which is why I figured I would come bring you something to eat. Then we can go over the reports together.”

“Inquisitor while I appreciate the offer, that won’t be necessary. I’m more than capable-“ Before he could continue however, she cut him off with a wave of her hand and a smile.

“Cullen, please. When we are off duty, it’s just Nora. And I wasn’t implying that you weren’t capable- I know you are- but I also know that you’ve been cooped up in this office all day and deserve a break. Plus”, she added with a smirk “It gets me out of eating dinner with Ser whatshisname- I can’t stand the man.”

He laughed at her bluntness and replied with a nod. “Entertaining visiting dignitaries isn’t my cup of tea either. I leave that sort of thing to Josephine.”

“See?” She flashed him a toothy grin. “Our little meeting is mutually beneficial. You get some help with the reports and I get to eat dinner with someone whose company I actually enjoy”.

He leaned back in his chair and smiled, chuckling at her statement.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. I probably wasn’t going to get much more work done anyways. Unfortunately I have a bit of a headache.”

Putting her tankard down, Nora gave him a concerned look.

“But,” he said with a reassuring smile “the food and drink are helping. So, thank you.”

Nora beamed back at him – _Maker, she has a beautiful smile_ \- clearly pleased with his response.

“Well then it’s settled-no more work for us tonight! We’re going to relax, and we’ll drink until your headache is nothing but an afterthought!” With this she raised her glass to the air, prompting Cullen to do the same.

He smiled at her and chuckled, “As wonderful as that sounds, I don’t think we have enough ale for that.”

Nora shot him a mischievous smirk before she leapt up from her chair and waltzed over to the door of his office,- _Do her hips always sway like that?-_ where Cullen now noticed her rucksack laying on the floor. She rummaged through her pack for a few seconds before she spun back around to face him with a grin on her face, two bottles in hand.

A hearty laughed escaped his chest before he could contain it, and she giggled in turn.

“Lady Trevelyan!” He said, feigning shock. “Did you steal those from the Tavern?”

Her lips twitched in a coy smile. “I may have… Borrowed them without permission.”

Cullen shook his head softly and snickered at the situation. Here they were sitting in his office, both avoiding their responsibilities and about to drink stolen wine.

Nora trotted back over to his desk and hopped back into her seat before grabbing both of their mugs, filling both of them to the brim.

“Well we best get rid of the evidence.” She passed him his mug and winked, taking a drink from her own.

His cheeks flushing, he laughed and took a drink of his own, smiling back at her.

_Not such a terrible day after all._


End file.
